Rimeinzu: Utsukushiki yuusha-tachi

If you enjoyed The Ghost And The Darkness starring Val Kilmer & Michael Douglas, you'll probably enjoy this movie though nowhere as well made IMO. After seeing a story about the true story out on Youtube I was happy to find this movie listed out there as well. I hope after watching it that someone remakes it using today's special effects because the true story is such an amazing tale. As for the movie "Yellow Fangs," IMO it was well done for a 1990 release with a cast of good actors. For me the weakest part in this movie is the musical score throughout that seems all over the place. A couple times the music actually fits what you might think you'd hear in the background of a Japanese period drama/adventure/horror, but more often it sounds like really bad disco or techno music, sometimes like a video game and once I thought a Kenny G song was starting. The soundtrack reminded me of one of my favorite fantasy movies "Ladyhawke" which also has one of the worst soundtracks in movie history IMO. As for the man in a bear costume, it only shows up a few times throughout, but the director does use film of a real bear as much as he can and did a good job it it too. I also think the director did a good job using some "gore" effects with the brief shots of the costumed bear that made it better; however, the end scenes show the man in bear costume in longer shots so yeah, those few shots are not great, but it still didn't ruin the movie for me (or my friend watching it with me) because the story was so good and the actors believable which is why I've given this movie 7 out of 10 stars.

Produced and directed by none other than the Streetfighter himself, Shin'ichi 'Sonny' Chiba, Yellow Fangs was a massive failure at the box office and cost Chiba dearly: having stumped up much of the budget himself, he lost his home and his restaurant chain, and was forced to sell the Japan Action Club, the training school he established for aspiring martial arts film actors and stunt performers. It's a shame, because the film really isn't all that bad.

Apparently based on a true story, the movie takes place in Hokkaido, 1915, where a rampaging bear known as Red Spots has been terrorising villagers, carrying off helpless women for food. Five brave hunters head for the snowy slopes of the mountains in order to find and kill the beast, and are followed by a headstrong young girl named Yuki (Mika Muramatsu), who is looking to settle the score with the bear that slaughtered her family.

For his directorial debut, Chiba displays remarkable skill, deftly weaving a romance and familial drama into his animal amok story. His film also benefits from some wonderful visuals, from bleak snowy landscapes, to beautiful sunsets, to blood drenched cabins. Performances are convincing throughout, with relative newcomer Muramatsu more than keeping up with the more experienced Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Yuki's love interest Eiji.

Where the movie does stumble badly is with its bear. Actually, it's less of a stumble, and more of a head-first fall off the edge of a mountain. Wherever possible, footage of a real bear is used, but all too often Chiba is forced to resort to a stand-in, a man in a really unconvincing bear costume, which is hard to take seriously. If only they had found a more realistic solution to the bear problem, I suspect that the film might have been better received.

6/10. Worth watching to see just how bad the fake bear is, and for cutie Muramatsu stripping down to a skimpy outfit to lure the creature to its doom.